Method of upsetting bridge-bars



2 Sheets-Sheet l.,

(No Model.)

F. H. SMITH.

METHOD 0F UPSETTING BRIDGE BARS.

No.-387,824. Patented Aug. 14, 1888.

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34M.) @Mo/L o I. VWM/wm N. PEYEHS. Plmmitnumphef. whinglon. n. CA

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

F. H. SMITH.

METHOD 0F UPSBTTING BRIDGE BARS. No. 387,824. Patented Aug. 14, 1888.

Milian Spie/mall,

UNITED STATES PATENT @Erica FREDERICK H. Sli'llTH, OF BALTIMORE,MARYLAND.

METHOD OF UPSETTING BRIDGE-BARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 387,824, dated. August14, 188B.

Application filed April 28, 1888. Serial No. 272,102. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, Fnnonnroi; H. SMITH, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city of Baltimore, State of Maryland, have iuventedcertain new and useful Improvements in the Process of UpsettingBridge-Bars, the objects and nature of which improvements are fullyexplained, described, and shown in the following specification andaccompanying drawings.

In upsetting bridge-bars the practice has heretofore been to heat aportion of the bar and inclose such heated portion in dies, which holdone cud of the heated portion stationary, while the other end is driventoward the stationary end. The heated metal by this method is thuscaused to upset upon itself from one end only. This process is seen inKlomans reissue, No. 4,911, where the bar is held stationary in thefront half of the de,while the moving rear half upsets the metal back onitself toward the front; and it is also seen in my application, SerialNo. 256, 803, in which thebar is held stationary in the front half ofthe die, while a moving plunger or ram upsets the metal back on itselftoward the front, and itis again seen in my applicatiomserial No. 256,804, where the lnovable bar is driven in through the front end of thedie and upsets against the back thereof. In all these methods orprocesses the upsetting is done from one end only of the bar, whichcauses great and prolonged friction of the traveling or displaced hotmetal against the top and bottom surfaces of the die, and there iscorrespondingly great wear of these surfaces and expenditure of powerand uncertainty of result. By my present method or process I verygreatly reduce these undesirable items by driving the hot metal fromboth ends-that is, from opposite directions toward the center, instead.of from one end toward the other end.

In present upsetting practice, particularly with steel bars of ordinarysizes, it is found that when the upsettingpressure is first applied itcauses the bar to buckle or bend laterally inside the die at about themiddle thereof, instead of upsetting and expanding at both edgesequally. This tendency is usually counteracted by groovinglongitudinally the surface of the hot bar and ribbing correspondinglythe surface of the die, as seen in Cooke and Carloughs patent, No.345,573; or by ribbing the bar and grooviug the die, as seen in Sellerspatent, No. 372,571; or by distorting the bar into an angular shape, asseen in Kingleys patent, No. 357,833. In all these, however, thedistortion disturbs the skin of the bar at a vital point and requiresthe use of further machinery to iiatteu out the head of the bar to aplane surface.

By my present improvement I avoid all distu rbance of the skin of themetal, except at the eye-seat, which is the point in the bar Where theeye is to be drilled, and also fully counteract the tendency of the barto move in the die by driving a bulb or other protubcrance into one orboth sides of the hot metal at the eye seat, and thus penetrating,partially penetrating, or transiixiug the bar, which firmly holds itstationary, while the adjacent parts are expanded in the die by drivingboth ends from opposite directions. This penetrating or transfixing ofthe bar also expands laterally the metal immediately at the eye-seat,and such expansion gives efficient initial direction to theiniiowingmetal coming centerward from the opposite ends of the die, and thusreduces the danger of clogging by reason of local overheating orunderheating.

In practicing this process for upsetting bridge-bars differentarrangements of dies and mechanisms for driving the hot metal centerwardfrom both ends may be used to suit in dividual shop requirements.

The accompanying drawings illustrate an adaptation of the dies andmechanisms shown in my two above-named applications; and in order thatmy improved process may be clearly understood I will now describe themechananisms and their movements.

Referring to the drawings, Figure lis aside elevation. Fig. 2 is an endelevation. Fig. 3 is an elevation of the vertical cylinder and atransverse section of the lower part. Fig. 4 is a plan view showingbeginning of movement, and Fig. 5 is a plan view showing end ofmovement. Y

In the gures, A designates the anvil or bed upon which the work is done;B, the bar to be operated upon; D, the die within which the upsetting isdone.

In Figs. i, 2, and 3 the upright cylinder C and the pistou P, with itsshoes S, which closes IOO the die D, constitute the Vertical mechanism:for opening and closing the die,and this mechanism is removed from theplan views, Figs. 4 and 5, in order to show the operation of thedouble-end upsetting process.

C designates the double upsettingcylinder, which has the piston Pworking through one end and the piston P2 working through the other end.The piston P operates the ram R, which slides in the rear end of the dieD, and the piston P2 operates the rear cross-head, G2, which in turnoperates the sliding side rods, R', and through them the grippingcross-head Cain front of the die.

In working my process a portion of the bar B is heated, and the hot partis placed in the die D in the position shown in Fig. 4, and the bar isthen gripped by the wedges WV W. The vertical piston P is then lowereduntil its shoe S closes the top of the die D. The water or other poweris then applied within the upsetting-cylinder C between the two pistons,thus forcing them apart. One piston, P', through its ram R, drives theend of the hot bar backward into the die D to the position shown in Fig.5, while simultaneously with this action the other piston, P2, throughits connected cross-heads and side rods, drives the opposite portion ofthe heated bar forward into the die D. The two streams of hotmetal,coming from opposite directions and meeting in the middle ofthedie, upset therein very uniformly with certain sizes of bars. With othersizes of bars, especially of steel, the bar at first bends laterallyinstead of upsetting; and in order to counteract this tendency I firmlyfix the heated bar at the point where the eye-seat will come by using asuitable protuberance on the shoe S, and then upset the heated portionadjacent to the said fixed point by driving the metal from oppositedirections toward said xed point.

In order to give an initial lateral expansive direction to the metal theprotuberance may be of a shape to penetrate the bar. For this purpose Iuse the bulb or protuberance T, shown as protruding downward from thebottom of the shoe S and protruding upward from the bottom of the die D.I may use either one or both of these upper and lower bulbs T, and driveor press them into the hot metal of the bar by closing the die. Themiddle of the bar is thereby penetrated or .translixed on one or bothsurfaces at the eyevseat or point for drilling the pin-hole, and theybar is thus held firmly against lateral bending, while the hot metaldisplaced by the said penetration or transfixing is expandedlaterally onboth sides, as indicated by the dotted lines L in Fig. 4, thus giving anequal lateral initial direction to the oppositely-intlowing streams ofhot upsetting metal.

During the progress of the upsetting, or after its completion, the shoeS can be raised and lowered with more or less force, as may be required,to compact the hot metal and assist in its expansion, and the horizontalupsetting mechanisms can be worked either by a continuous advance or bya series of short ad vances, which may coincide with the strokes of thevertical mechanism; or the short horizontal advances may alternate withthe vertical strokes, thus upsetting and expanding the bar byalternately arching and flattening it. To this end or for other reasonssteam may be used in the vertical cylinder, while a slower power may beused in the horizontal cylinder.

Obviously some form of screw or other power may be used to operateeither or both the vertical and horizontal mechanisms. The shape of thedies may be Varied to suit the requirements of the design or thematerial by turning oft' the sharp corners at the back of the die, or byusing Klomans above-mentioned movable half-die, or in many other waysknown to the art. In some shops having large steam-hammers not fullyoccupied the anvil and upsetting mechanisms shown in Figs. 4 and 5 maybe profitably used as ternporary substitutes for 1 the anvil regularlyused under such hammers, the shoe S in such cases being temporarilyattached to the hammer.

Having thus described my improved process and shown wherein it differsfrom other processes heretofore employed, and having also shown how itmay be put in practice by those skilled in the art, I now desire toclaim as new the following:

l. As an improvement in the art of upsetting bridge-bars, thehereinbefore-described process,consisting of first heating a portion ofa metal bar, inclosing the heated portion within a die of any desiredshape, and driving both ends of the heated portion of the bar toward thecenter of the die, for the purposes described.

2. As an improvement in the art of upsetting bridge-bars, thehereinbefore-described process, consisting of inclosing the heated barwithinadie, firmly fixing the heated bar at the point where theeye-seatwill come, so as to prevent it from bending laterally when theupsetting-pressure is applied, and upsetting the heated portionsadjacent to the said xed point by driving the metal from oppositedirections toward said fixed point.

3. As an improvement in the art of upsetting bridge-bars, thehereinbefore-described process, consisting ot inclosing the heated barwithin a die, penetrating one or both sides ot' the heated bar at thepoint where the eye-seat will come, so as to give an initial lat` eralexpansive direction to the metal and driving the metal from oppositedirections toward the said penetrated point.

FREDERICK H. SMITH.

Witnesses:

MrLfroN O. SPICKNALL, JNO. T. MADDOX.

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